The more they stay the same. Here's a clever little mashup by The Daily Show:
(previous)
and replaced it with The Betsy Ross Flag . Because to many our current flag was symbol of hubris, incompetence, and cruelty. Simply put we needed to get back to our foundations and rebrand ourselves.
Today we took a step in that direction. Today an African American man was sworn in as President of the United States of America in a former slave market.
Read into that what you will but to me its a step in the right direction towards rebuilding our image and gives us the opportunity to heal wounds both new and old.
Love Obama or hate him he's not an extension of the previous administration and he won't authorize the torture of anyone. That gives me some cause for hope.
Today the Stars and Stripes fly again. Don't make me regret it President Obama.
Think about what just happened.
Today the American people showed the world why America is the greatest nation on Earth. Today the American people showed that the child of an immigrant can, if he works and studies hard enough, become anything he wants within these borders. Come tomorrow morning millions of children, born with skin darker than my own, will wake to discover that anything is possible for them despite what they have been told their entire lives. Today our nation tore that final barrier down and in doing so proved to the world that The American Dream is alive and well.
That alone may do more good for this country than any policy either of the candidates involved in this election could have ever crafted.
Think about that for a bit.
From the WaPo:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The day took a tragic turn for Sen. Barack Obama when his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died today.My sincerest condolences to Senator Obama and his family. I had hoped that she would have held out long enough to see the election through. No one deserves a loss such as this the day before they make history.Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Dunham died at home late last night in Hawaii, or roughly between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern. Obama learned of the news a little after 8 a.m. in Florida, where his campaign held a morning rally.
The campaign released a statement from Obama and his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng this afternoon:
"It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.
By enabling their people on the ground to work smarter.
How? A giant database of voter records that allows campaign workers to catalog the responses and reactions of voters they have contact with while allowing them to avoid wasting their time contacting McCain supporters. Full details are at Wired
I watched the debates (and covered them on Twitter). I was surprised at how little actual debating there was. It seemed to me to mainly be a recitation of the policies listed on their websites. Both candidates gave decent performances. Personally I thought it was a draw. However that may be all Obama needs to win over a chunk of swing voters. By not losing to McCain Obama may have proved to many that he at least has the chops to keep up with him. For some independents that may have been just enough to tip the scales.
Look like at least one PAC has answered the Obama Campaign's call...
Pretty tame compared to some of McCain's ads. Its more of a shot across the bow than an actual attack comparatively speaking. Odds are the real heavy handed ads won't be rolled out till a few weeks prior to the election. Just in time to have an effect but close enough to the election that by the time the fact checking is done the votes will have already been counted.
H/T TPM
Looks like the RNC and McCain have finally caught up with Obama financially. The problem? The 527s aligned with McCain have put them over the top. Apparently Obama's campaign has opted to stop pressuring the Dems 527s to lay low.
Courtesy of Marc Ambinder:
An Obama adviser privy to the campaign's internal thinking on the matter says that,with less than two months before the election and with the realization that Republicans have achieved financial parity with Democrats, they hope that Democratic allies -- what another campaign aide termed "the cavalry" -- will come to Obama's aid.While I was hoping for a cleaner campaign season than this given how tight the race has been I suppose it was bound to happen. Although I have to say that while I understand how important having a monetary advantage over ones opponent is I can't help but wonder if this decision might backfire on Obama. After all its hard to sell yourself as an agent of change if you're doing the same thing every nominee in recent history has done.
The Obama campaign can't ask donors to form outside groups; it can only communicate, through the public and the media, with body language, tells and hints.
Looks like Palin is a cash cow.
The only problem is that its Obama who is reaping the rewards...
Obama's coffers have been filling since Sarah Palin attacked him repeatedly in St. Paul last night.
An Obama aide confirms Drudge's report that Obama has raised about $8 million from more than 130,000 donors and is on pace to raise $10 million by the time McCain reaches the stage tonight.
Apparently scheduled to run tonight during the convention...
Speaking as someone who donated to both Obama and McCain during the primaries in the hopes that we'd see the cleanest election in years I can say that I don't believe that any other GOP candidate other than John McCain would have bothered to do this.
Now all the talking heads can stop saying "presumptive nominee" when talking about Obama...
From MSNBC:
DENVER - Barack Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, became the first African-American ever nominated for president by a major political party after delegates to the Democratic National Convention chose him as their standard-bearer Wednesday.Regardless of how you feel about Obama you have to admit that his nomination represents a milestone in American history. In less than a generation we've gone from legalized discrimination to placing a minority member one step away from leading the nation.The nomination process, a subject of debate and speculation right up until the voting began late in the afternoon, ended when Obama’s chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, asked her supporters to join in accepting Obama’s historic nomination by acclamation.
Looks like he may be losing both conservative Democrats and some independents...
From Gallup polls:
...support for Obama among all Democratic registered voters fell from 81% in early August (Aug. 4-10) to 78% last week (Aug. 18-24). Obama's support from Republicans over this period also dipped from 9% to 7%, while 42% to 43% of independents have consistently supported him.
Now I realize that polls are little more than snapshot of current public opinion but this particular one happens to mirror some of the talk I'm hearing amongst moderates both online and off. I can't help but think that part of this loss of support from the middle has to do with the fact that many moderates were waiting for Obama to unveil innovative and thoughtful policies. However as the race has moved to the middle and the distinctions between Obama's economic and energy policies and McCain's become less clear the more that works in McCain's favor. He is after all a figure that the political center of this country knows pretty well. Obama? Not so much.
Yeah, Biden is prone to slips of the tongue and he's got a bit of a temper but in a weird way that's part of his appeal. He's one of the most human people in politics. I can also see where his faults can be turned to Obama's advantage. He can play bad cop to Obama's good cop. If they can get that act down pat it'll pay off for Obama in the long run. Additionally Biden has one major plus. If you look at McCain's short list of veep prospects not one of them can go toe to toe with Biden in a debate and win. He's experienced enough and a decent enough speaker that he'll keep McCain's Veep pick on the defensive the whole debate. All he has to do is not come off as mean in the process. After all its one thing to eat someone for breakfast, its another to come off as having relished it.
Finally there is a weird sub dynamic going on in this presidential election that makes the veep pick more important than many previous elections. Given McCain's age there is a possibility he might not make it four years. Additionally many people I know have voiced concerns that Obama might not see the end of his first term. Considering that the Denver PD today thwarted what what may have been an assassination plot against Obama today I'd say their concerns are indeed justified. As insurance against such a plot succeeding Biden is a safe choice. Personally if Biden had to finish out Obama's term I wouldn't be concerned (unlike oh say Dan Quayle taking over for Bush Sr.). I wouldn't be particularly excited either.
Obama's choice of Biden some credence to Andrew Sullivan's claims about Obama's pragmatism. Biden was the safe choice. Converesly when I look at McCain's short list of veep picks (including Lieberman) I don't have the same level of comfort. In my minds eye Mccain is in a sticky situation. If he picks a VP to appease the GOP base he risks losing independents and vice versa. With that in mind I'm left wondering how much will Obama's choice affect McCain's decision making? I can't help but think that the choise McCain makes will say alot about what his presidency will be like and I for one am very curious as to what is going to happen next.
Earlier today the blogospheric buzz was all about Biden. That was until Biden himself threw a crowbar into the gears of the e-rumour machine.
From ABC's Political Radar:
As Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was leaving his house in Wilmington this afternoon, he slowed down and said to the gathered news reporters outside his home: "Hey guys, I'm not the guy. See ya."I've generally avoided covering the Veepstakes since up until now most coverage of the topic has been pure speculation largely based on disinformation campaigns run by both candidates' campaigns. The Biden buzz though made a certain amount of sense. He does have the experience and the foreign policy chops that Obama lacks. However he also represents a solidly blue state and has a hard time staying on message. I'm guessing that Obama plans on using the VP slot to cement the support of a swing state and of the candidates reportedly on the short list that points to VA or PA.
Members of the news media camped outside his Wilmington home today as speculation swirled that Biden is on Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's short list of vice presidential candidates.
Over at the WSJ Martin Feldstein takes a look at the effects of Obama's proposed energy rebate. He used the economic effects of the last tax rebates to come up with a likely scenario. The results ?
Cost? 65 billion dollars
Amount of Increased Spending? 10 billion dollars
Why? Because people either bank rebates or use them to pay off debt.
Finally the effect that I'm most concerned about..
His plan, to finance those rebates with an extra tax on oil companies, would reduce investment in refining and exploration, keeping oil prices higher than they would otherwise be.I'd be lying if I said I couldn't use the money. But if the rebate drives up the price of gas in the long term we'll all be paying it back at the pumps.
Thanks to Scribd. Scribd does for documents what YouTube does for video. Apparently Obama's campaign has been using it to keep everyone in the know. So here is his complete energy plan. Believe it or not there's more than tire gauges involved....
Odds are we'll see a different set of numbers after the conventions once the general public starts paying close attention.
From Zogby (via McClatchy)
Perhaps this drop is caused by the current blurring of the differences between McCain's policies and Obama's. If the public perceives that Obama is co-opting McCain's positions it makes McCain look like the stronger candidate. Obama would do well to show some ingenuity about now.Barack Obama has lost ground among some of his strongest bases of support, including young people, women, Democrats and independents, according to a new ATV/Zogby poll.
The Illinois Democrat has also lost some support among African-Americans and Hispanics, where his lead over Republican John McCain has shrunk, and among Catholics, where he's lost his lead.
The net result, pollster John Zogby found, is a race that's neck and neck, with McCain supported by 42 percent; Obama by 41 percent; Libertarian Bob Barr by 2 percent; and independent Ralph Nader by 2 percent. Another 13 percent supported other candidates or were undedcided.
Zogby called the results a "notable turnaround" from a July survey he did that showed Obama leading by 46-36.
His recent move to the center on offshore drilling is going to be painted as a flip flop. Additionally the fact that he continues to push for a windfall profits tax on oil companies is pure populism. As for tapping into the strategic reserve it is a bad idea in my opinion. While I, myself, was against offshore drilling a few years ago I believe at this point that moving closer to energy independence is extremely important. As long as the states can decide where drilling can occur off their shores I'll back that.
The windfall profits tax, however, is unfair and not at all business friendly. A more sensible approach would be to cut all subsidies to the oil companies and lease oil and gas rights on public lands (as well as mineral rights) and offshore at fair market value. That at least would be fair. I see no reason to give hand outs to companies that are breaking quarterly profit records repeatedly. As for the strategic reserve rename it the Emergency Military Petroleum Reserve and then leave it alone.
If Obama seriously wants to win he is going to have to differentiate his policies from McCain's and it is far better to have McCain co-opting Obama's policies on energy than it is to have Obama playing catch up to McCain. After all, this is ultimately a race about change vs experience. If Obama can prove that he has quality ideas that seem pragmatic he'll carry the day. Conversely if he appears to be mainly reciting Dem talking points then the election is his to lose.
You know, the one that makes people believe and then try to prove irrational claims about him.
This time it was,"Obama is not an American citizen" which was dreamed up by a disgruntled Clinton supporter. Fortunately this one actually revealed credible evidence to the contrary.
An announcement in the Honolulu Adviser circa 1961:
While this finding may have dashed the hopes of Clinton's less logical supporters its not going to do a thing to stop the "truthers" from running with it. After all to real conspiracy theorist evidence to the contrary of one's supposition doesn't mean your wrong. It's proof of a cover up. Why? Because if they actually used Occam's Razor and faced the facts then they wouldn't be superior to the rest of the general populace. Think of it as a fundamentalist religion in which the darkest motives of man/alienkind and one's ego are the only deities and you'll have a pretty good grasp of the mindset of truthers.
Over at the WSJ Shelby Steele tries to explain the motives behind Jesse Jackson's recent castration comment.
...he (Jackson) and the entire civil rights establishment pursued equality through the manipulation of white guilt.I think he's right about the root cause of the Jackson's enmity although I'd throw in a little jealousy as well. However I don't think he's entirely right about the gratitude part. That may play a small part but it occurred to me that a large portion of Obama's appeal is the fact that he is in all visible ways the opposite of George W Bush. I'd even argue that many of his supporters on some level see their choice of candidate as a refutation of the current administration. I'd even go so far as to argue that had someone seemingly more thoughtful and eloquent been president that eight years that Hillary would probably have gotten the nomination. It seems to me that W literally set the stage for Obamania.Their faith was in the easy moral leverage over white America that the civil rights victories of the 1960s had suddenly bestowed on them. So Mr. Jackson and his generation of black leaders made keeping whites "on the hook" the most sacred article of the post-'60s black identity.
They ushered in an extortionist era of civil rights, in which they said to American institutions: Your shame must now become our advantage. To argue differently -- that black development, for example, might be a more enduring road to black equality -- took whites "off the hook" and was therefore an unpardonable heresy. For this generation, an Uncle Tom was not a black who betrayed his race; it was a black who betrayed the group's bounty of moral leverage over whites. And now comes Mr. Obama, who became the first viable black presidential candidate precisely by giving up his moral leverage over whites.
Mr. Obama's great political ingenuity was very simple: to trade moral leverage for gratitude. Give up moral leverage over whites, refuse to shame them with America's racist past, and the gratitude they show you will constitute a new form of black power. They will love you for the faith you show in them.
